The perspectives of the students who live in locationally disadvantaged area on cultural and intercultural elements

The importance of cultural and intercultural elements has been emphasized very much in recent years. Learning these precious elements is a key for successful and sincere communication. Having a common language is also a milestone for strengthening friendship ties all over the world. Under these circumstances, gaining "home culture" and "target culture" is considered as useful in language learning and effective communication in global world. In this regard, if the learners have cultural and intercultural awareness, both it will be easier to be able to overcome the communication problems, misunderstandings and narrow- minded perspectives since they will have a global background and to teach new things besides their own norms, customs and so on. This study was implemented in a Turkish village state school which is locationally disadvantaged. The participants were fifth, sixth, seventh and eighth grades. The main goal of this study was trying to open a vision in learning both English as a second language and cultural and intercultural elements. The data collection tools of this study were pre and post-reflections of students, teacher diary and in-class discussions. This study suggests that it should be given more importance to the learners who are in locationally disadvantaged areas. It is also hoped that this study will shed on light the literature. Key Words: Cultural Awareness, Intercultural Awareness, Language Learning